It depends on what “authenticity” means and doesn’t mean. From that article, andaslewofothers, it means a candidate is “the real deal,” “genuine,” “relaxed,” “accessible,” “blunt,” “unabashed,” “consistent,” “says what he means and means what he says” and “gives honest answers rather than prepared answers.” It means he or she is not “politically correct,” “evasive,” “cloistered,” “stiff” or “uncomfortable.”

As Josh Richman of the Bay Area News Group slyly suggests, one voter’s “telling it like it is” may be another voter’s “telling people what they want to hear.”

Which is where the idea of Trump, Carson and Sanders being authentic falls apart.

Here’s a meaningful definition of authentic: The candidate says and does in the campaign what he or she would do in the White House. Doesn’t play to listeners’ emotions or offer simple solutions to complicated problems. Is both sincere about proposals and realistic about what’s possible.

Deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants and bending foreign foes to the force of your personality? Sounds good to some voters, but impossible. Calling for the resignation of your critics in the media, belittling the people who disagree with you? Good way to sound tough, but a president who did this would wind up with a nation of enemies. Balancing the federal budget with a 10 percent to 15 percent flat tax? Sounds easy, but it doesn’t add up. Proposing to pay for everybody’s college education (or at least two-thirds of the cost) with higher taxes on Wall Street? Sweet! But not likely to fly.

It’s funny how the more extreme, or less experienced in getting their way in politics, or more frustrated by the complexity of the nation’s challenges a candidate is, the more “authentic” he or she is seen to be.

There’s a fine line between bravely saying what you believe even though it’ll tick off the establishment, and dishonestly pandering to the angry fringe.

People who crave authenticity should watch out. Inauguration day is a bad time to find out the real deal is a fake.

Kevin Modesti is a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Southern California News Group, covering the political scene in Los Angeles County. An L.A. native, he was a sports writer, columnist and editor for most of his career, and later an editorial board member, writer and editor in the Opinion section. He lives in the San Fernando Valley and is based in the Woodland Hills office.